Last week I was in Los Angeles to attend a “decentralized conference” for the startup industry called Tech Week. This is basically a loosely organized series of events geared toward founders, investors, and the ecosystem of support teams surrounding them. In my new career as an executive coach, I fall into the third category.
The events at the conference were dominated by only two topics. The first topic was, unsurprisingly, AI. As a bit of an AI cynic myself, I didn’t want to attend any of those panel discussions and bring down the earnest and optimistic let’s-all-make-a-ton-of-money vibe. (Also, the ones I actually wanted to go to were full by the time I registered.) The other dominant topic, however, was space exploration. Now this was exciting! I chose what events to attend largely by the title, so I couldn’t pass up “From Boots on the Moon to Bucks on the Moon: Building for the Emerging Lunar Economy.” If you are imagining someone building a mall with H&M and Starbucks on the moon, you have the wrong idea. I was thinking the same thing, but when I got there I learned about the real lunar economy.
The event took place at Astrolab, where they make lunar rovers. They had several on display, and an interactive game where you could operate a simulation of driving the rover around the surface of the moon. The panel discussion centered around the NASA Artemis mission and China’s competing plan to build a permanent base on the moon within the next 5 years. A race has begun for which superpower will be able to establish a “sustained human presence” on the moon first. This would initially be something similar to the International Space Station, but this base would support further development, such as ice mining, which would make longer and longer stays possible.
If you are imagining world powers competing to colonize the moon in the 21st century the same way European powers colonized the New World in the 17th century, then you now you have the right idea. Does this mean we should all be preparing for the future Moon Wars between the US and China? Possibly. Does it mean I need to write a screenplay called Moon Wars? Likely yes. If this sounds like a dark timeline to you, let me reassure you: nothing is certain. The economic catastrophe caused when the AI bubble bursts will likely change all of these plans radically. But please don’t mention this to anyone at Tech Week, I don’t want to bring down the vibe.
These Tech Week events, by the way, are completely open to the public. Next year if you are in LA, you too could learn about space colonization from the leaders in the field. And there were free In-N-Out burgers! Even I couldn’t be cynical while eating a double-double.
